1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus and a robot system.
2. Related Art
There has been proposed a robot system that calculates a position and a posture of a work target using an image picked up by an image pickup apparatus and causes a robot to perform predetermined work on the basis of the calculated position and the calculated posture.
The robot system includes the image pickup apparatus, an image processing apparatus, a robot controller, and a robot. The image processing apparatus calculates a center position of the work target using the image picked up by the image pickup apparatus. The robot controller recognizes the position and the posture of the work target on the basis of information indicating the center position of the work target calculated by the image processing apparatus. The robot controller generates, on the basis of recognized positions and postures of work targets, a command for positioning a hand mechanism of the robot in an appropriate position and an appropriate posture and controls a gripping action of the robot. In the robot system, the image pickup apparatus is connected to the image processing apparatus, the robot controller is connected to the image processing apparatus, and the robot is connected to the robot controller (see, for example, JP-A-2012-242281 (Patent Literature 1)).
The image processing apparatus in the past includes one LAN (Local Area Network) port for connection to the robot controller. The image processing apparatus and the robot controller are connected to each other, for example, by a LAN cable.
In recent years, in a site where a robot is used, for example, there is a demand that a plurality of image processing apparatuses are to one robot controller to control the robot. Alternatively, in a site where a robot is used, there is a demand that a plurality of robot controllers share and use one image processing apparatus.
In the robot system in the past, the image pickup apparatus is connected to the image processing apparatus via a USB (Universal Serial Bus) or a LAN cable.
When the image pickup apparatus and the image processing apparatus are connected via the LAN cable, a user performs setting concerning a network for the image pickup apparatus. Alternatively, in the robot system in the past, a DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) server is provided in the network to automatically perform setting concerning a network for the image pickup apparatus.
There has been researched and developed a method of calculating a position and a posture of a work target on the basis of a picked-up image picked up by an image pickup unit and causing a robot to perform predetermined work on the basis of the calculated position and the calculated posture.
Concerning the method, there is known an image processing apparatus connected to a control apparatus that controls the robot and separate from a control apparatus that performs image processing such as calculation of the position and the posture of the work target based on the picked-up image (see http://robots.epson.com/admin/uploads/product_catalog/files/EPSON_CV1_Vision %20(RevB).pdf “Vision Guidance for Epson Robots” (Non Patent Literature 1).
There has been proposed a robot system that controls the operation of a robot using a picked-up image picked up by an image pickup apparatus. For example, JP-A-2009-218933 (Patent Literature 2) describes a robot system in which an image processing apparatus, a control apparatus, and a PC (Personal Computer) for control are connected via a network. The image processing apparatus processes a picked-up image around the robot acquired from the image pickup apparatus. The PC for control functions as a development environment for displaying the picked-up image acquired from the image pickup apparatus and creating a computer program for image processing.
For the image processing apparatus to apply the image processing to the picked-up image, physical connection of the image pickup apparatus to the image processing apparatus is not enough. Setting for the PC for control is necessary. For example, a user checks beforehand an IP (Internet Protocol) address of the image processing apparatus and performs operation for manually inputting the checked IP address to the PC for control. A plurality of image pickup apparatuses are connectable to the image processing apparatus. There is an image processing apparatus capable of using a plurality of models of image pickup apparatuses. Concerning such an image processing apparatus, a user checks in advance a camera of which model is connected to the image processing apparatus and performs operation for setting, in the PC for control, which of a plurality of cameras is selected. When the PC for control and the image processing apparatus are connected to the same network segment, the PC for control and the image processing apparatus can transmit and receive data immediately after the completion of the setting operation. Therefore, it is possible to use the image pickup apparatus for which the setting is completed. The network segment is a logically divided range of a LAN and is sometimes called sub-network.
However, the image processing apparatus in the past includes only one LAN port. Therefore, for example, when a plurality of image processing apparatuses are connected to one robot controller to control the robot, it is necessary to connect the robot controller and the plurality of image processing apparatuses via a network switch (a switching hub) and perform communication among the apparatuses.
In the image processing apparatus in the past, the DHCP server is necessary to automatically performing the setting concerning a network for the image pickup apparatus. When the DHCP server is not used, the user needs to manually perform the setting concerning a network for the image pickup apparatus. In this case, the user needs to grasp setting contents of the image processing apparatus and the robot controller, which are connected to the robot system, concerning a network.
In the image processing apparatus in the past, when a serious error that cannot be solved by operation by a person not having special knowledge (e.g., the user) occurs, for example, some trouble is caused by executed processing and, thereafter, the image processing apparatus cannot be started, the user has to disassemble the image processing apparatus to remove a storing unit included in the image processing apparatus, send the storing unit to a person having special knowledge (e.g., a technician of a manufacturer), and ask the person to repair the storing unit. Therefore, the user consumes time and labor.
When the PC for control and the image processing apparatus are connected to different network segments, the PC for control and the image processing apparatus cannot transmit and receive data even if the setting operation is completed. Therefore, the image pickup apparatus for which the setting is completed cannot be used unless the setting of the network segment of one of the PC for control and the image processing apparatus is adjusted to the setting of the network segment of the other. In particular, in a large robot system including a plurality of image processing apparatuses, the user consumes a lot of labor for the setting operation.
Even in a state in which some abnormality occurs in hardware of the image processing apparatus, the control apparatus in the past cannot detect the state.
The image processing apparatus in the past does not take into account that a person not having special knowledge (e.g., a user) is caused to update an OS (Operating System). When the user has to update the OS, the user has to disassemble the image processing apparatus, send the image processing apparatus to a person having special knowledge (e.g., a technician of a manufacture), and ask the person to update the OS. Therefore, the user needs to consume time and labor.